Partition and the rise of Hindutva movement in contemporary India

  • Bhagwan Josh Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
Keywords: BJP, Cultural hegemony, Hindutva, RSS, Secularism, Two-nation theory

Abstract

Hindutva movement is now actively seeking to capture instruments of state power and trying to impose its cultural hegemony by mobilizing Hindus. In post-Independent India, the Hindutva movement has reached such proportions because the much desired ‘left-of-centre’ consolidation failed to emerge in the 1970s and 1980s. Over these decades, the governments of the day claimed that India was a secular country but in actual practice, because of the fear of losing Muslim votes, they constantly postponed the implementation of a secular agenda thereby opening the space for the Hindutva forces to rush in. Now the political terrain has changed drastically. Is the belief that a multi-religious and culturally diverse society can wield itself into a nation and democratic polity coming apart? Is the sub-continent returning to the European model of building ethnic nation-states underpinned by the cultural codes of a mono-culture or single religion? In a line, could this be attributed to the ‘long shadow’ of the Partition of India?

Published
2021-08-10
How to Cite
Josh, Bhagwan. 2021. “Partition and the Rise of Hindutva Movement in Contemporary India”. Revista Canaria De Estudios Ingleses, no. 76 (August), 175-95. https://www.ull.es/revistas/index.php/estudios-ingleses/article/view/3697.